ARC17: Hello. I'm the Smarter Library.

2017 OCLC Americas Regional Council Meeting

October 30–31, 2017 • Baltimore, Maryland, USA

What does it take to become a “smarter library”?

Join fellow library leaders at the inaugural Americas Regional Council meeting and address the challenge of supporting increasingly personalized customer relationships while also scaling to meet growth in population, materials and expectations. We live in the age of Alexa, big data, autonomous cars, smart everything. What does this mean for libraries, their services and their value and values? Together we’ll look at how “smarter libraries” can remake user experiences to be more customized, effective and intuitive. We’ll investigate ways to leverage data to improve both services and outcomes. And we’ll see how, by applying and strengthening our professional values, libraries can strengthen the communities they serve. All with the never-ending requirement to innovate and reimagine every facet of the library.

Together we will:

Reimagine customer experiences

Be more personalized, effective and intuitive

Leverage data

Improve services and outcomes

Confirm professional values

Strengthen the communities you serve

Innovate continuously

Keep pace with change

We hope you’ll join us for this exciting event held in vibrant downtown Baltimore. The active two-day agenda was designed for attendees representing all library types, and will feature thought leaders from within and outside of the library community, including library colleagues and OCLC leadership. Dr. Carla D. Hayden, Librarian of Congress, will be a featured keynote speaker. This is your opportunity to connect with fellow library leaders to share ideas, learnings and insights.

Please join us

“Today we find ourselves reimagining library services and spaces, managing our patrons’ increasing expectations and identifying our ever-evolving place within our communities. This inaugural Americas Regional Council member meeting brings library leaders together to explore the future of building ‘the smarter library.’”

CHRIS CRONIN
Associate University Librarian for Collections, Columbia UniversityChair of Americas Regional Council

“Library leaders from all library types will come together at this OCLC member meeting, for the first time in the Americas region. We will tackle the opportunities and challenges that face us all, and learn from each other how to make our libraries ‘smarter.’ I hope to see you there.”

HELEN FRIED
County Librarian, Orange County Public LibrariesAmericas Regional Council delegate

Calling all library leaders

This meeting was created especially for current and emerging library leaders across all library types—academic and research, public, special and others. Programming and discussions are centered around library leadership’s opportunity to build a smarter library, both today and into the future. Librarians and staff with these titles and areas of focus will benefit from this meeting:

Library director

Dean of libraries

University/college librarian

City librarian

Head/director of access services

Head/director of reference services

Head/director of technology

Associate directors of libraries or library divisions

We welcome all staff members from OCLC member libraries who would like to join this strategic discussion around building smarter libraries.

Member-driven programming

The programming and agenda at ARC17 are led by a Program Committee of respected leaders from the Americas Regional Council, which spans all library types. We sincerely appreciate their expertise and partnership:

Bonnie Allen

Dean of James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University

Constantia Constantinou

Dean of University Libraries, Stony Brook University

Chris Cronin

Associate University Librarian for Collections, Columbia University

Helen Fried

County Librarian, Orange County Public Libraries (California)

Antoinette Pinder-Darling

Cataloguing Librarian, The Harry C. Moore Library, The University of The Bahamas

About OCLC membership

All OCLC member libraries within the Americas region—Canada, United States, Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America—are part of the OCLC Americas Regional Council (ARC). All members are encouraged to attend member meetings and community activities, to share insights through various member forums and channels, and to participate in elections and governance. Learn more about ARC and OCLC governance.